The Documents

THE record that resolved the Minor's-parents conflict.

Will dated 24 Jan 1855, probated 9 Jul 1855, Lewis Co (Wills Vol A-C, 1820-1900). Heirs listed: sons Minor Carr, John William, Felix L; daughters Susan, Malinda.

Original bond, $150 to the Commonwealth; SIGNED by James M Hall and William Burnside (bride's father, surety). Shared on Ancestry by hallsrock01 (2010), saved by 56 researchers.

James 45, widower; Elizabeth 28, single. Register names her parents: SAMUEL & NANCY LOVETT.

d. 19 Feb 1873, HEART DISEASE, age 53; parents Rich'd & Mary Hall; b. Harrison County; farmer; informant Elizabeth C Hall, wife.

A PUBLIC member tree containing our Hall line (mirrors the PRIVATE 'Hargrove/Gregory/Cosby' trees, 1709 people). Its Hall photos were originally shared by the anniechall1 account and saved here by David White — so they are reachable publicly WITHOUT logging into anniechall1. Source of the first Hall direct-line PHOTOS (Addison Harvey Hall wedding + graduation portraits). More available: Minor James Hall & Amanda Gaston portraits, Addison's gravestone, and Weston/Monongah newspaper clippings (Harvey ran a drug store).

Contemporary news item: 'We learn from good authority that James M. Hall, Esq. declines to be a candidate for re-election as Supervisor of this Township. While we do not agree with the political views of Mr. Hall, yet we cheerfully say that as an officer he has faithfully discharged his duties, and we believe him to be a strictly honest, as we know him to be a very pleasant gentleman... he having served as Supervisor a number of years.' Harvested directly from Newspapers.com (Ian's new subscription), Batch 32.

Researched 7-24-2026 using the address Ian supplied (2547 Valley Chapel Rd, Weston, WV 26452) via the Lewis County WV Assessor's online GIS parcel viewer (apps.landmarkgeospatial.com/lewisgis). Two parcels currently held by "HALL JAMES H TRUST" (mailing PO Box 1080, Morgantown, WV 26507) match Ian's description of "73.25 ac Less COG White Farm & 194.5 ac Freemans Creek, parcels 59 & 3": (1) PARID 03 6D000300000000, Map 6-D PID 3, 194.5 ac, legal desc "194.5 AC FEE FREEMANS CREEK", DB/PG 0WBH/0147. Tax map card shows owner "Hall, James H.", date acquired 1959, Deed Book WB, Page 147. (2) PARID 03 5D005900000000, Map 5-D PID 59, 73.13 ac (Ian's figure: 73.25 ac), legal desc "73.13 AC LESS COG WHITE FARM" (full card text: "73.13 Ac. Less Cog 1,2,3,7,8 White Farms" — "Cog" appears to be a subdivision/tract name, not initials). Tax map card shows two ownership rows: row 1 "Hall, JamesH." acquired 12-28-1948, Deed Book 199, Page 488; row 2 "Hall James H Trust" (later transfer into trust, fed. tax stamps illegible/"??"). A second map card for this parcel (03-005D-0059-0000-0000-2.jpg) is otherwise blank except an administrative note: "Split 0.12 Ac. as PCL 03-5D-59.1 for 2025" — not harvested as a separate image since it carries no historical/genealogical content. Google Street View returned no imagery for either parcel (rural, no coverage) — a live photo of the property was not obtainable this way. Parcel-59 lookup required switching the GIS search mode from "Address Locator" to "Owner" and searching "Hall Jam" — the address search alone only surfaces parcel 3, since parcel 59 has no assigned street number. CROSS-CHECK: birth/death dates for james-h-hall-1925 (James Hamlin Hall, 1925-1981, Ian's paternal grandfather) make him age 23 in 1948 and age 34 in 1959 — both plausible ages for these acquisitions, and the person is independently documented in family-data.json with matching surname/locale. FLAG: these county deed dates (1948, 1959) establish James Hamlin Hall as the acquirer of THESE SPECIFIC TRACTS in the 20th century — they do not by themselves confirm this exact acreage was the continuous homestead of the 19th-century Freemansburg-area ancestors (James Monroe Hall d.1873, Minor James Hall, Amanda Jane Gaston, Abram Gaston), only that it sits in the same Freemans Creek locale where those ancestors are otherwise documented. Whether the land passed to James H. Hall by inheritance/family partition (deed re-recorded at time of transfer) versus an outside purchase is not yet established — would require pulling the actual deed books (WB p.147 and 199 p.488) for grantor names, which was not attempted this batch (no online Lewis Co. deed-index access was found).

Outgoing passenger list, SS Pastores, departed Newport News, VA, 18 Jul 1918, as part of the '9th Provisional Company, JULY Infantry Replacement Draft (White)'. Charles A. Hall: Private, Service Number 3175078, residence Weston W. Va. (RFD #1), emergency contact 'Hall, Minor J.' listed as Father -- this independently confirms Minor James Hall (1853-1927) as Charles's father, i.e. Charles was a brother of Addison Harvey Hall, not a more distant relation. As a 'replacement draft' unit (individual reinforcements shipped to France to be assigned into depleted combat units on arrival, rather than a fixed home-front regiment), this explains why no standard WWI regimental roster or name-index previously turned up his unit -- his eventual combat-unit assignment (at the time of his 20 Oct 1918 KIA in the Meuse-Argonne) would have been made in France after this voyage and is a separate, not-yet-found record. Found via a Fold3 search for 'Charles A Hall' + West Virginia + WWI conflict filter. [Batch 96, 9-11-2026] CORRECTION: the manifest header, re-captured at viewer zoom from Ancestry's copy of the NARA collection, reads 'JULY INFANTRY REPLACEMENT DRAFT', and Ancestry's index agrees; Batch 37 read '61st' from a lower-resolution Fold3 scan. Replacement drafts were raised and named by month. Three new images added.

1948 Selective Service registration card for James Hamlin Hall (b. 26 Jan 1925, Lewis Co WV — exact match). Confirms prior US Navy service: Enlistment Date 19 Jan 1945, Discharge Date 2 Jul 1946, Unit 'NTC Norfolk (NOB)' (Naval Training Center Norfolk, Naval Operating Base), Service Number 7563806. At registration (9 Sep 1948) he was a full-time student at West Virginia University, Morgantown WV, residing Route 1 Weston WV (the Freemans Creek farm area), single, contact C. M. Gall. Physical description: blue eyes, RED hair, ruddy complexion, 5'8", 140 lbs — independently corroborates the red hair visible in his color Navy portrait (Assets/Photos). Signed in his own hand. [Batch 38] This is the definitive confirmation of his Navy service dates/unit, resolving the prior photo-only evidence into a documented record.

"A Bill of the appraisement of the property of James M. Hall Dec'd," filed Lewis County Court Clerk's office, 3 Jun 1873: a full household + farm-equipment inventory (washing machine, chairs, dishes, wheat fan, wagons, tools, bedsteads, etc.), followed by livestock (mules, saddle horses, hogs, cattle, sheep, colts, oxen, a mowing machine) and a schedule of notes/bonds owed TO the estate by various neighbors. Appraised/signed by ADDISON HALL, J.P. HALL, and WILLIAM POST -- Addison Hall is almost certainly addison-hall-1825, James M. Hall's own younger brother (per Richard Harvey Hall's 1855 will and the 1850 census), appraising his late brother's estate at about age 48. A specific amount (~$280 in bedding/bedsteads) was "set apart as the widow's [allowance], taken at the appraisement" -- confirms his second wife Elizabeth Catherine Lovett Hall was his surviving widow in 1873. The whole account is signed "W.H. HALL, Admr" -- almost certainly william-h-hall-1849, James M. Hall's own son (Minor James Hall's full brother), acting as administrator of his father's estate. A separate "Sale Bill of the Personal Property of James M. Hall dec'd, on the 1st day of May 1873" records a public auction with buyers including (mostly family): W.J. Hall (the single biggest buyer -- mowing machine $67, two-horse wagon $85.50, harness/traces, plow, harrow, log chain, grindstone -- i.e. whoever was continuing to farm the place; exact identity unconfirmed, this may be a mis-transcription of W.H. Hall rather than a distinct person), E.C. Hall, William H. Hall, Addison Hall, James P. Hall Jr., and Norris/Norman J. Hall, alongside non-family buyers (B. White, R.D. Bailey, M.J. Bailey, Milton McKinley, John Jackson, and others). Minor James Hall does not appear by name among the itemized buyers in this particular sale bill (he would have been about 20 in 1873) -- not evidence of anything either way, just not yet found here. IMPORTANT: this record covers PERSONAL PROPERTY ONLY (household goods, livestock, farm equipment, and cash notes/bonds) -- it contains NO mention of real estate or acreage. Land does not pass through a chattel sale bill; whether James M. Hall's ~800 acres (per the 1923 county-history bio, src-1923-hwv-hall-bio) passed via a will or by intestate succession among his ~10 children remains UNCONFIRMED -- no will for him has been found in this collection (only this inventory/administration), which is suggestive of an intestate estate but not conclusive on its own.

Contemporary open-letter item addressed to 'James M. Hall, Noah Life, Wellington V. Chidester, James Malady, and William A. Watson, Supervisors of Lewis County': 'Gentlemen:--At the recent State election, you were chosen Supervisors of the several townships of this county, to serve as such for one year, from the first day of January, 1869, to the first day of January, 1870. You are all new members and Democrats, except the former, who was a radical in the old Board...' Establishes that James M. Hall was ELECTED (not merely serving) as a township Supervisor in the October 1868 state election, with the one-year term beginning 1 Jan 1869 -- directly preceding and explaining the already-known 25 Oct 1869 notice of his declining re-election for the following term. Harvested from Newspapers.com, Batch 48.

Legal notice: 'The undersigned hereby gives notice, that in pursuance of a resolution of the Board of Supervisors of Lewis county, passed on the 15th day of December, 1869, he will, until the 1st day of February, 1870, receive sealed proposals for making two fair outline maps of said county of Lewis, upon which the boundary lines of the several townships shall be plainly delineated. For further particulars, Address -- JAMES M. HALL, Weston, W. Va.' Shows James M. Hall still actively carrying out Board of Supervisors business (commissioning official county township-boundary maps) in mid-December 1869 -- i.e., serving out the remainder of his term even after the 25 Oct 1869 notice that he would not seek re-election for the term beginning Jan 1870. Harvested from Newspapers.com, Batch 48.

Official minutes: 'At a meeting of the Board on the 4th and 5th of January, 1871, present: William A. Watson, James M. Hall, James Mulladay, David J. Hays and A. D. Peterson. William A. Watson was unanimously elected President, and James Mulladay Clerk.' Shows James M. Hall present and seated on the county Board of Supervisors more than a year after his 25 Oct 1869 notice declining re-election for the term beginning Jan 1870 -- meaning he apparently returned to the Board for the term beginning Jan 1871 (via the Oct 1870 election), or continued representing Willey Township on a different cycle than assumed. FLAGGED, not resolved: the exact sequence of his supervisor terms across 1869-1871 is not fully reconciled from these three notices alone. Harvested from Newspapers.com, Batch 48.

Near-primary 1932 document naming its own informants (Addison Hall, grandson; Susan Hall Wright, granddaughter). Direct-line content: William Hall an Englishman, Revolutionary soldier and schoolmaster, d. found dead in his bed; four known children (William Jr. m. Mary Anne Louther, Richard, Sarah m. Joseph White, Malinda m. Smith Gibson). Richard Hall b. 21 Nov 1785 Westmoreland Co VA, moved to Loudoun Co VA with his father 1793, to Westfield 1806, m. Mary Bailey 21 Dec 1809 (VARIANT vs. index 4 Dec 1809), head of McCann's Run, d. suddenly June 1855 after walking to Jane Lew for a newspaper — found dead under a tree; Methodist Episcopal. Full married-out detail for all of Richard's children incl. #7 James Monroe (m. Nancy Burnside 11 Dec 1844; both buried Freemansburg Baptist Church Cemetery; d. 'Feb. 16, 1873' — VARIANT vs. death register 19 Feb) and #9 Mary, wife of William Hitt 'a local minister' (children incl. Richard a UB minister, John, David, JAMES...) — see the Polly Hall hypothesis. Also Stonewall Jackson connections: Thompson Hall m. Margarete Jackson (aunt of Stonewall), Minor Carr Hall m. Nancy Jackson ('a half sister of Stonewall Jackson') and was sheriff of Lewis County during the Civil War. Source: the family tree book at Ian's mother's house, photographed by Ian 14 Aug 2026 (36 pages/photos, Assets/Hall Family/IMG_0001-0008 + IMG_9972-9999). COMPILED BY PATRICIA ANN STALNAKER HALL herself (confirmed by Ian, 8-14-2026) — the calligraphed chart is her own hand, consistent with her Maryland Institute of Fine Arts training. FULL VERBATIM TRANSCRIPTION: Transcriptions/hall-history-1932-reunion-valley-chapel.md (Batch 61). Photo captions: Transcriptions/stalnaker-book-photo-captions.md.

Gives William Hall Revolutionary proof-of-service CITATIONS: Gwathmey's 'Historical Register of Virginians in the Revolution' p.339; Papers Concerning the Army, Virginia State Library Vol. I; Bounty Warrants Journal, House of Delegates 1833-34, Document 32 — service in Capt. James Shelby's Company, [George Rogers] Clark's Illinois Campaign under Col. Montgomery, 3 years. Charles Abram Hall 'died in France... buried in Arlington National Cemetery.' Minor James Hall exact dates 9 Mar 1853 - 25 Oct 1927. Harvey Addison: Iowa State College farming degree, Gilmer Co county agent, ELECTED 1934 WV House of Delegates. Mable McGinnis: Glenville State College, taught in Glenville; father John H. McGinnis '(1849-1911)' — VARIANT vs. file's 1929; Heck lore: family from Germany 1728 via Philadelphia; Justis Heck joined Union Army at 23 and DIED IN ANDERSONVILLE prison; John Yost Heck (1754-1825) Rev War, 13th Penn. Riflemen 1776-78, Brandywine and Valley Forge (generation math loose — flagged). James Hamlin Hall '1926-1981' (VARIANT vs. file b. 26 Jan 1925): m. Patricia Ann Stalnaker IN 1949 (first specific year ever found), WVU after Navy, ten years on the farm then Deerfield near Jackson's Mill, independent oil & gas land man, WV HOUSE OF DELEGATES 1950 AND 1954. Patricia attended the Maryland Institute of Fine Arts, Baltimore. Amanda Jane Gaston header '1855-1938' vs. text 'died Aug. 28, 1937' — internal inconsistency, file's 1937 stands. Source: the family tree book at Ian's mother's house, photographed by Ian 14 Aug 2026 (36 pages/photos, Assets/Hall Family/IMG_0001-0008 + IMG_9972-9999). COMPILED BY PATRICIA ANN STALNAKER HALL herself (confirmed by Ian, 8-14-2026) — the calligraphed chart is her own hand, consistent with her Maryland Institute of Fine Arts training. FULL VERBATIM TRANSCRIPTION: Transcriptions/stalnaker-book-hall-biographies.md (Batch 61). Photo captions: Transcriptions/stalnaker-book-photo-captions.md.

Captured Batch 75 from FamilySearch Memories (contributed by user HarryMcCoy, 24 November 2022; upload filename 'James M. Hall 1820.jpg'). The stone is carved with the hand-and-open-book emblem and reads: JAMES M. HALL / DIED / FEB. 19, 1873 / IN HIS 53 YR. A four-line epitaph verse below is too weathered to transcribe with confidence and has not been guessed at. The date confirms the Lewis County death register to the day, and 'in his 53 yr.' independently confirms a birth in 1820. NOTE: a second headstone photograph attached to this profile on FamilySearch (JAMES M HALL, May 6 1850 - Mar 1 1924, with SARAH E HIS WIFE) belongs to a different, later James M. Hall and appears to be misattached; it was not taken into this archive.

FamilySearch ark 1:1:7NMW-KHW2, image 3:1:33S7-9YYX-9TJX (4131 of 5801), NARA M1509. Read and transcribed in full Batch 75 after sitting unopened in the file since Batch 22. Age 26; home Weston R.1; born Freemansburg 30 May 1891; occupation FARMER; EMPLOYED BY 'M. J. HALL' — his own father Minor James Hall — at Weston R.1; no dependents; no prior military service; no exemption claimed. Registrar's description: TALL, SLENDER, LIGHT BLUE EYES, LIGHT BROWN HAIR, not bald, not disabled. Precinct No. 3, Lewis County. Signed in his own hand. CONFLICT: the card marks him SINGLE although he married Mabel McGinnis 15 December 1915 — the marriage record is the better witness; the card's tick is preserved but not followed.

FamilySearch ark 1:1:X5KP-33D, image 3:1:S3HY-63V3-LT (2265 of 3208), NARA M1937, D.S.S. Form 1 rev. 4-1-42 — the 'Old Man's Registration' of men 45 to 64. Read and transcribed in full Batch 75. Mailing address Weston W.Va. Rt. 1; TELEPHONE FREEMANSBURG 234; age 50; born Freemansburg 30 May 1891; person who will always know his address: MRS. MABEL HALL; employer: 'Farmer' (self-employed); place of business FREEMANS CREEK, Weston, Lewis, W.Va. Signed 'Harvey Addison Hall'. Read against the 1917 card it shows the arc of his working life: employed by his father in 1917, working for himself on the same creek in 1942.

Read from the image and transcribed in full Batch 76 (previously harvested and never opened). SSS Form No. 1, Selective Service Number 46 32 25 19. Residence and mailing address Route 1, Weston; born 26 Jan 1925, Lewis County; occupation FULL TIME STUDENT; place of business WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY, MORGANTOWN; registered with Lewis County Board No. 1; never rejected for service; SINGLE; no reserve membership. Signed in his own hand. DESCRIPTION OF REGISTRANT: eyes BLUE, hair RED, complexion RUDDY, height 5 ft 8 in, weight 140 lb. Registrar Jo Ann White, 9 September 1948. Line 4 (person who will always know your address) gives initials C. M. and a surname reading Hall or Gall — if Hall, most likely Claude M. Hall (1878-1965), his father's first cousin on Freemans Creek; flagged as a reading, not asserted.

Read from the images Batch 76 — the step BEFORE the 1873 sale bill (src-james-m-hall-estate-inventory-sale-1873), which the archive had already transcribed. APPRAISERS: Addison Hall (the deceased's own younger brother), S. P. Hill, William Post. HOUSEHOLD: beds and bedding, cupboard, fall-leaf table, six chairs, child's crib, washing machine, churn; plates, cups and saucers, glass tumblers and goblets, spoons, knives and forks; crocks, jugs and stoneware; TWO SPINNING WHEELS with gear, a small spinning wheel and spools, and A LOOM; a clock; two looking glasses; A RIFLE GUN; A BIBLE at $3.00; and '1 Lot of Books' appraised at $6.10 — more than the clock and more than the rifle. FARM: a yoke of oxen $100, a bay horse $100, gray horse, black mare; ewes and lambs, sheep, yearling cattle, three-year-old cattle and heifer steers by the score, hogs; a MOWING MACHINE $60, wagon, ox yoke, hay stacks, lumber at 80c per hundred, corn at 55c/bu, oats at 25c/bu. WIDOW'S HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION set apart at $200 in bedsteads, beds and bedding — what Elizabeth Catherine Lovett Hall was allowed to keep out of the sale. THE HEADLINE: the continuation page is a list of NOTES AND MONEY OWED TO THE ESTATE, totalling about $2,341 — John H. Hall $500 (note of 1867, one day after date, with interest), S. R. Bailey $200, E. G. Minnich $200, A. M. Smith $100 (six months, no interest), H. D. Bailey $75, a store bill on W. H. Aspinwall $48, a county claim $67.95, and W. W. V- $3.20. James Monroe Hall was lending money to his neighbours as a standing practice. CAVEAT: legible at the level of categories, names and larger figures; the small per-item household prices are at the edge of this scan — a higher-resolution capture of Will Book pp. 423-424 is worth obtaining before quoting any line-item price.

Read from the image and transcribed in full Batch 76 (the archive had cited its index date since Batch 12 without opening the paper). Printed Virginia form, dated 11 December 1844; principal James M. Hall with the bride's father WILLIAM BURNSIDES as surety, bound in $150. THREE THINGS THE IMAGE GIVES: (1) BOTH MEN SIGNED THEIR OWN NAMES in a firm cursive hand rather than making a mark — the earliest specimen of James's handwriting in the archive, at twenty-four; (2) the surname is spelled BURNSIDES, with the S, in all four places it appears — the family wrote it that way in 1844 and dropped the S later; (3) the surety is the bride's own father. The form's phrase 'a marriage is suddenly intended' is printed boilerplate meaning 'about to be', not 'in haste' — noted so no story is built on it.

Ian's mother's own five-generation ancestor chart, chart No. 1, with herself as person No. 1 and her ages-at-death pencilled in green beside each ancestor. Read line by line Batch 76. It is the ORIGIN of two figures this archive had been carrying: Jennie Harris's death as 10-12-1960 in Harrison County (No. 5, with '67' pencilled beside it) — the day is right and the YEAR IS WRONG, as her own obituary proves (see src-jennie-harris-obituary-and-funeral-notice-1961); and the garbled No. 8 row for Nicholas Harveous, which simply repeats George's own dates. Otherwise the chart confirms the Allen/Webb line as this archive holds it, and preserves the fourth generation as names only: John B. Allen, Sarah Richardson, Clement Norman, Nancy Hickman, Jonas Webb (b. 1805), Delitha Carter, Joseph White (1818-1891), Cathern Queen. TWO REAL CONFLICTS SURFACE against the file's own values for the Allen great-grandparents — see william-r-allen-1842 and mary-virginia-norman-1844.

The archive had quoted only the registrar's physical description from the BACK of this card. The FRONT was read for the first time in Batch 76 and it gives him an occupation the file never had. Age 23; home R.F.D. #1, Weston; born Freemansburg 18 Sept 1893; natural born; OCCUPATION: PUMPER; EMPLOYER: HOPE NATURAL GAS CO., at the KELL GASOLINE PLANT; no dependents; single. Signed in his own hand. Registrar's report: TALL, SLENDER, BROWN EYES, SANDY HAIR, not bald, not disabled; registrar C. R. Green; PRECINCT NO. 3, LEWIS COUNTY, date of registration 5 JUNE 1917 — THE SAME PRECINCT AND THE SAME DAY as his elder brother Harvey Addison Hall (src-harvey-hall-1917-wwi-draft-card). The two brothers registered together: Harvey, 26, gave his employer as M. J. Hall, their father; Charles, 23, gave his as Hope Natural Gas.

Captured Batch 80 from FamilySearch Memories on Richard Harvey Hall's profile (LCDM-G4B); linked there to Find a Grave memorial 199815014. The stone reads, in full: 'In Memoriam / HALL / RICHARD HALL / 1786 --- 1855 / AND HIS WIFE / 1791 - POLLY - 1854 / Death Is The Crown Of Life.' FamilySearch tags three people on it: Richard Harvey Hall LCDM-G4B, Mary Polly Bailey KLZ9-MJQ, and Richard Bailey Hall 1813-1890 LZW3-H6P. THREE CONSEQUENCES. (1) BURIAL PLACE for both, newly recorded: Bailey Cemetery, Westfield, Lewis County — a burying ground carrying his wife's family surname. (2) A BIRTH-YEAR CONFLICT on Richard: the stone and FamilySearch both give 1786; this archive carries 21 October 1785. The day and month agree; only the year differs, and the stone is a family-erected memorial rather than a contemporary record, so neither is overwritten. (3) THE NAME 'POLLY' IS CARVED ON THE STONE — not Mary. Mary Bailey Hall was known to her own family as Polly, in this exact household, firmly enough that it is what they cut in granite over her grave. That bears directly on the POLLY HALL HYPOTHESIS: it establishes Mary/Polly as this family's own everyday usage, which strengthens the circumstantial reading that Richard's daughter Mary — who married a Hitt per the 1932 reunion history — would be remembered as 'Polly Hall'. It strengthens; it does not prove.

Found and read Batch 81 from the West Virginia Archives & History image database (va_mcdetail.aspx?Id=10708641; register image 4130803_00149). Entry 34 reads in full: 'James W. Hitt to Mary Hall — Marriage license issued by the fathers of both parties being present and consenting, Nov. 15th 1850. Teste: John Morrow, Clk.' THREE THINGS IT GIVES. (1) A DATE for a marriage the 1932 reunion history asserted only from memory: 15 November 1850, Lewis County. (2) The groom is JAMES W. HITT — their son's 1947 death record names his father as WILLIAM Hitt; James William Hitt going by his middle name is the ordinary reading, and the two records now agree on one man. (3) THE DECISIVE CLAUSE: the bride was UNDER TWENTY-ONE. On the same two pages the same clerk writes 'both parties being past the age of 21 years' for entries 29 and 31, and records parental consent ONLY where a party was a minor (entry 30 names 'James Blagg father of Nancy Blagg'; 33 and 35 record a father's consent proven by certificate). For entry 34 he records the consent of BOTH fathers — so both parties were minors. Mary Elizabeth Hall, born 4 January 1830, was TWENTY YEARS AND TEN MONTHS OLD that day. This narrows the field of candidate Mary Halls in Lewis County to women born after November 1829. Her father was also alive and physically present at the clerk's desk; Richard Harvey Hall died June 1855. WHAT IT DOES NOT GIVE: the clerk wrote 'the fathers of both parties' without naming them — two entries after naming James Blagg. The gap in the Polly Hall chain is now a single unwritten name.

Found and read Batch 83 via FamilySearch Full-Text Search (ark 3:1:9392-CS9P-L8), which OCRs unindexed will books. Transcribed from the AI transcript and checked against the page image. NAMES HIS CHILDREN IN A SINGLE LIST: Mary E. Gaston, AMANDA J. HALL, REBECCA V. HALL, Ida M. Gaston, E. A. Gaston, L. B. Gaston, W. H. Gaston and L. H. Gaston, $1,000 in cash each; plus $1,000 divided among the children of his deceased daughter MRS. ADALINE B. MUNDELL. Devises the COAL, OIL AND GAS RIGHTS under his former Home Farm of 82 3/8 acres on FREEMAN'S CREEK, Freeman's Creek District, and the OIL AND GAS RIGHTS under a second farm on WALNUT FORK OF FINK CREEK, equally among all nine children and their heirs and assigns forever. Residue to three named children. Executed at JANE LEW 15 March 1913; witnesses O. C. Dawson and Geo. B. Waggoner, both of Jane Lew; probated at the Lewis County Clerk's office 9 July 1918, order in General Order Book No. 12 p. 358. THIS DOCUMENT PROVES, from a primary instrument rather than a tree, that AMANDA J. HALL and REBECCA V. HALL were sisters — the two Gaston daughters who married the two Hall brothers (Batch 75).

Found and read Batch 84 via FamilySearch Full-Text Search: Lewis, West Virginia Probate Records 1873-1878, ark 3:1:3QS7-89KQ-3C98, image 67 of 326, page 71. AFTER THEIR FATHER DIED IN FEBRUARY 1873, NINETEEN-YEAR-OLD MINOR JAMES HALL WAS MADE A WARD OF HIS OWN ELDER BROTHER, WILLIAM H. HALL — the same William who signed as 'W. H. Hall, Admr' on the estate papers. William held Minor's inherited money from 2 JUNE 1873; the account totals $759.21 on each side with a principal balance of $720.38, a commission at 5 per centum, a clerk's fee bill to J. Woofter and the cost of the settlement. One line dates it: 'paid J. Hall by W. Hall his guardian WHEN HE ARRIVED AT THE AGE OF 21' — Minor turned twenty-one on 9 March 1874. Settled before commissioner E. S. BLAND on 17 April 1874, finding a balance of $38.96 DUE FROM MINOR TO HIS BROTHER after disbursements and commissions; confirmed by the Lewis County Court 5 June 1874, teste J. Woofter, Clerk. THIS ALSO EXPLAINS THE 1873 SALE BILL: the twenty-year-old buying a mowing machine, a wagon, plows and a harrow at his father's estate sale was a legal minor whose brother held the purse.

[Batch 89, 8-18-2026] THE FOUNDATION DOCUMENT OF THE HALL LAND, found via FamilySearch Full-Text Search in Lewis, West Virginia, Deeds 1869-1871 (ark 3:1:3Q9M-CS51-R7Z5-B and -R7ZL-4, images 600-601, deed book pp. 528-529). It does four things no other record in this archive does. FIRST, it names the surviving children of James M. Hall in a single legal instrument, in order, with the married daughters' husbands: 'William H. Hall, Sarah E. A. Lovett wife of Norman H. Lovett, Mary M. Bailey wife of Hezekiah D. Bailey, Minor J. Hall, Richard H. Hall, Virginia B. Hall, Lott Hall, Samuel G. Hall, Nancy L. Hall and Bertha J. Hall, children and heirs at law of James M. Hall, deceased.' TEN heirs — the eleventh child, Rosehorance, had died an infant in 1863. SECOND, it tells where the land came from: a chancery suit in the Circuit Court of Lewis County, Gehring's heirs and others plaintiffs against Israel Ramsburg's heirs and others defendants, decree of 4 MAY 1869; John Brannon as special commissioner sold the land at judicial sale, and 'at which sale the said James M. Hall became the purchaser for the sum of TWO THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED AND SIXTY DOLLARS'; the court confirmed the sale 12 November 1869. THIRD, it explains why the deed is to the children and not the man: 'the said James M. Hall having DEPARTED THIS LIFE INTESTATE BEFORE THE EXECUTION TO HIM OF A DEED under the said decree' — he paid for the farm and died on 19 February 1873 without ever holding the paper to it; the court ordered the deed made to his heirs by a subsequent order of 8 SEPTEMBER 1873, and Henry Brannon executed it ten days later. FOURTH, it names and measures the land: 'a certain tract of land lying in the County of Lewis, State of West Virginia, situate on the WEST FORK RIVER, containing about TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY FIVE ACRES, and known as the "WESTFIELD TRACT", being the same conveyed by Weeden Huffman to Abraham W. Fell, and by said Fell to Ignatius Gehring by deed dated 8th January 1860, and sold by said Gehring to Israel Ramsburg.' Recorded by Jesse Woofter, Clerk. NOTE the resonance, flagged as a resonance and not a claim: James M. Hall was born at WESTFIELD in 1820, and Richard Hall and Polly Bailey's joint headstone stands at WESTFIELD, Lewis County. Whether the tract took its name from the settlement or the other way round is not established here.

[Batch 89, 8-18-2026] Lewis, West Virginia, Deeds 1873-1874, ark 3:1:3Q9M-CSR7-77TR-L, image 281 of 345. This is the deed that finally NAMED THE PARTITION SUIT the project had hunted since Batch 41 and twice written off as a dead end (Batches 50 and 55). Hezekiah D. Bailey and Mary Margaret Bailey his wife — Mary Margaret being MINOR'S OWN ELDER SISTER, the 'Margaret (Mrs. Bailey)' of the 1932 family history — had sold a tract to Minor J. Hall for SIXTEEN HUNDRED AND FORTY THREE DOLLARS AND SIX CENTS, 'six hundred of which is in hand paid', the balance in three notes: $300 due 13 Dec 1874, $300 due 15 Dec 1875, $443.06 due 15 Dec 1876, all without interest, WITH WILLIAM H. HALL HIS SECURITY — the eldest brother who had been Minor's court-appointed guardian standing surety on his younger brother's notes. Minor then 'exchanged said tract of land to William H. Hall for another tract', so the Baileys conveyed it directly to William. The land is 'lying and being in Horse[shoe] Run of Freemans Creek in Lewis County West Virginia, and designated in the plot and report of the commissioners in the PARTITION SUIT OF WM. H. HALL AGAINST JAMES M. HALL'S HEIRS as LOT NO. 5', about fifty-odd acres three roods and three poles, beginning at a white oak corner to Lot No. 4. Delivered to Wm. H. Hall 3 April 1875. THE $600 DOWN PAYMENT IS THE POINT: Minor turned twenty-one in March 1874 and drew roughly $720 of his father's estate; within months he had put six hundred of it down on land carved out of his father's own farm.

[Batch 89, 8-18-2026] Lewis, West Virginia, Deed Books 1880-1881, ark 3:1:3Q9M-CSR7-SQXV-8, image 198 of 379, deed book p. 331. Richard H. Hall (b. 1855) and his wife sold to his brothers William H. Hall and Lott Hall, for EIGHTEEN HUNDRED DOLLARS, '$500 has been paid in hand and for the residue said W. H. and Lot Hall has given their notes', a tract 'lying on horse [shoe] run of Freemans Creek in County of Lewis State of West Virginia, it being LOT NO. 2 designated in the COMMISSIONERS REPORT AND PLAT IN THE PARTITION SUIT OF WM. H. HALL AGAINST JAMES M. HALL'S HEIRS', bounded in part by 'a stake corner of lot No. 1', containing SIXTY ONE ACRES AND 28 POLES. Signed R. H. Hall and R. V. Hall; admitted to record 4 March 1886. Together with the 1877 Bailey deed this establishes that the 245-acre Westfield tract was surveyed and platted into at least five numbered lots, and that over the following decade the brothers bought each other out lot by lot — with WILLIAM H. HALL, the eldest, steadily consolidating.

[Batch 90, 8-18-2026] THE PARTITION IN NUMBERS. FamilySearch, Lewis, West Virginia, Land Records 1872-1878, ark 3:1:3Q9M-C34Z-SSX2-X, image 548 of 619. Headed 'TABLE OF TRACTS OF LAND in Freemans Creek District of the County of Lewis ... FOR THE YEAR 1878', First Assessment District. Five years after James M. Hall's death and four years after the partition, the county tax assessor listed his widow and children as separate landowners, each with their own acreage, valuation and tax bill. Reading down the H page, with columns 4 (acres), 6 (local description), 9 (value per acre), 10 (value of buildings), 11 (total value) and 14 (total tax): HALL MINOR J. - 112 acres on Freemans, $8.80/acre, total $986, tax $2.96. HALL WM H. - 111 acres on HORSE RUN with $220 of buildings, $11.00/acre, total $1,221, tax $3.66; plus 5 3/4 acres ($29, tax 9c, with a transfer note in the alterations column); plus 73 acres with $110 of buildings, total $642, tax $1.92 - 189 3/4 acres in three tracts. HALL LOT - 58 acres on Freemans Creek, $9.90/acre, $574, tax $1.72. HALL RICHARD H. - 61 acres, $604, tax $1.81. HALL BERTHA J. - 49 acres on Horse Run, $11.00/acre, $539, tax $1.62; plus 7 acres, $39. HALL E. C. MRS - 180 acres held for LIFE (the tenure column reads 'Life' where every other Hall reads 'Fee'), with $330 of buildings, at $13.20 an acre the most valuable land on the page, total $2,376, tax $7.13 - THIS IS ELIZABETH CATHERINE'S DOWER, and the buildings figure says it is the home place. HALL SAMUEL G. - 114 acres in FEE on the WEST FORK RIVER, $1,003, tax $3.01. HALL NANCY L. - 118 acres, same water, $1,038, tax $3.11. TWO ARITHMETIC FACTS. (1) The eleven Hall tracts total 888 3/4 ACRES assessed at $9,051 - in ONE district in ONE year. The 1923 county history's claim that James M. Hall built the farm to ABOUT EIGHT HUNDRED ACRES, carried in this archive since Batch 41 as an unverified family claim, is now corroborated by the tax roll. (2) Samuel G.'s 114 and Nancy L.'s 118 acres, the only two Hall tracts described as lying on the WEST FORK RIVER, total 232 ACRES - against the commissioner's deed's 'about two hundred and forty five acres' for the Westfield tract. A strong correspondence suggesting the two YOUNGEST children, aged about thirteen and ten in 1878 and the only children of the second marriage, drew the home tract itself. NOT ASSERTED as proof; the commissioners' plat would settle it. ALSO ON THIS PAGE, and it matters elsewhere: HITT JAMES W., 190-acre neighbour Hitt Mariah, and Hitt Hamlet - see the separate note on the Polly Hall question. Column 15, 'Explanations of alterations during the preceding year, especially by whom transferred, and when and how the owner derived the land', is filled in for several rows and is UNREAD at legible resolution - it should narrate the partition transfer by transfer.

[Batch 91, 8-18-2026] THE 'BEFORE' PICTURE, and with the 1878 page it gives the whole arc in two documents. FamilySearch, Lewis, West Virginia, Land Records 1872-1878, ark 3:1:3Q9M-C34Z-SS68-V, IMAGE 111 of 619 — 'TABLE OF TRACTS OF LAND in Freemans Creek District of the County of Lewis, FOR THE YEAR 1873', the year James M. Hall died. The estate appears as ONE ENTRY: 'HALL JAMES M. HEIRS' followed by SEVEN 'Same' lines — EIGHT TRACTS UNDER A SINGLE NAME, undivided. Reading the acreage and description columns: 101 3/4 ac on HORSE RUN (with $300 of buildings, assessed $1,425) · 75 ac, same water ($623) · 174 ac, same ($1,366) · 10 ac on FREEMANS CREEK ($107) · 21 ac 150 poles ($198) · 66 ac on Horse Run ($558) · 171 1/2 ac on Freemans Creek ($1,409) · 100 ac, same, WITH $400 OF BUILDINGS, assessed $1,600 at about sixteen dollars an acre, the highest rate in the block and very probably the home place. TOTALS: 719 1/4 ACRES in eight tracts, assessed at roughly $7,286, carrying $700 of buildings. FIVE YEARS LATER, on image 548 of the same volume, the same family occupies ELEVEN SEPARATE LINES in ten names totalling 888 3/4 acres. That is the partition, visible as a change in the shape of a page. NOTE ALSO on this 1873 page: 'Hall Addison' (James's younger brother) holding a long run of tracts — 324, 5, 50, 197 and more — and 'Hitt James W.', 'Hitt Marshall', 'Hitt Mariah E.', 'Hall Richard B.' and 'Hall Jonah heirs' in the same district. DOCUMENTED OBSERVATION, NOT A CONCLUSION: the 245-acre WESTFIELD TRACT does not appear as a separate Hall entry in the 1873 book — unsurprising, since the assessment was taken before the commissioner's deed of 18 September 1873 was executed, and the land had been standing in the Gehring/Ramsburg chain. A 'West Field' tract of about 1,186 acres IS listed on the same page under 'Hoffman Welden heirs'; whether the 245 acres was carved out of it is NOT established and is not asserted here.

[Batch 92, 8-18-2026] IAN'S GREAT-GRANDFATHER'S WILL, never before read in this project, and the document behind the family's own account of how the farm passed. FamilySearch full-text, Lewis, West Virginia, Wills 1945-1951, arks 3:1:9392-C35V-Z (image 112, p. 147) and 3:1:9392-C35R-R (image 113, pp. 148-149). Opens: 'I, HARVEY A. HALL, residing in FREEMAN'S CREEK DISTRICT, LEWIS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA, being of sound mind and disposing memory, do make this my last will and testament, hereby revoking all former wills by me made.' FIRST: debts and funeral expenses. SECOND: to daughter MARJORIE ANN HALL a cash sum (figure not legible in the AI transcript; needs a clean capture). THIRD: to daughter MABEL JANE HALL, IF SHE IS TWENTY-ONE AT HIS DEATH, FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS ($5,000.00) outright; IF SHE IS NOT, the same $5,000 TO HIS WIFE MABEL McGINNIS HALL IN TRUST, she to manage, invest and reinvest and to use income and principal for the daughter's benefit, NO BOND REQUIRED, the trust to terminate on the daughter reaching her majority, at which point the whole fund and any remaining income is paid over to her. FOURTH: THE FARM — 'I give, devise and bequeath unto my son [James H. Hall] ... home farm in Freeman's Creek District, Lewis County, West Virginia, TOGETHER WITH ALL THE MACHINERY AND EQUIPMENT AND LIVESTOCK THEREON.' NOTE: this clause carries a HANDWRITTEN INTERLINEATION over struck-through typescript, apparently adding words to the effect of 'and my interest in the farm' — READ AT LOW RESOLUTION AND FLAGGED; needs a clean capture before the exact wording is quoted. The AI transcript renders the son's name 'John H. Hall', which is a MISREAD: the FIFTH clause plainly says 'my son James H. Hall', and Harvey had only one son. FIFTH: the residue, real personal and mixed, divided FIVE WAYS, share and share alike, among his wife MABEL McGINNIS HALL, his daughters MARJORIE ANN HALL, MABEL JANE HALL and ROBERTA HALL STEPHENS (transcript garbles the married surname), and his son JAMES H. HALL — with the wife's share expressly 'IN LIEU OF DOWER OR ANY OTHER CLAIM SHE MIGHT HAVE IN MY ESTATE'; and Mabel Jane's residuary share likewise to the mother in trust if she is still a minor. SIXTH: 'I nominate and appoint MY BROTHER, BLONDA S. HALL, Executor of this my last will and direct that no bond be required of him' - a legal instrument confirming the brother relationship. Dated 'this 1st day of SEPTEMBER 1946', the typed month struck through and September written in by hand. Witnesses read approximately as [?] Mabel Brannon and R. Burl Ball. PROBATED at the Clerk's Office, County Court, Lewis County, 15 NOVEMBER 1946. THIS CORROBORATES AUNT DEBBIE'S ACCOUNT (Batch 35) from the primary record for the first time: the farm to the only son, cash to the daughters, and the widow bought out of dower.

[Batch 92, 8-18-2026] READ DIRECTLY FROM THE IMAGE AND UNAMBIGUOUS. The execution line of the 1946 will reads: 'WITNESS my hand and seal this 1st day of SEPTEMBER 1946.' Beneath it, in the standard formula for a testator who cannot write his own signature: the word 'his' above, the word 'mark' below, and between them the clerk's typed 'Harvey A. Hall (SEAL)' with a hand-drawn X standing in place of the signature. THE MAN WHO MADE THIS MARK WAS NOT ILLITERATE. Harvey Addison Hall ran Harvey's Drug Store in Weston, took a judgment in his own name before a justice of the peace in 1922, and was ELECTED TO THE WEST VIRGINIA HOUSE OF DELEGATES IN 1934. He signed his 1917 and 1942 draft registration cards in his own hand - both are in this archive. HE DIED ON 28 OCTOBER 1946, EIGHT WEEKS AFTER MAKING THIS MARK. The plainest reading is that by 1 September 1946 he was too ill to hold a pen: a man putting his affairs in order, dictating a will that provides for a daughter who might still be under twenty-one when he died, and unable to sign it. Flagged as a reading, not a medical fact - but the contrast with his own earlier signatures is documented and on file.

[Batch 96, 9-11-2026] Found via Ancestry's WV Newspapers.com Stories & Events index on the last day of the subscription. Verbatim: 'SUDDEN DEATH.—A man named Richard Hall, living near Jane Lew, started in procession with the delegation from that place to the Know-Nothing jubilee at Milford, on the 16th inst., but left the ranks and retired to the shade of a tree where he was found about 10 o'clock the next morning dead. It is passing strange how some 90 mem[n] could pass a place where a disabled companion had been left, without seeing or attending to him. "John Barley corn" is said to have had something to do with it.' IDENTIFICATION rests on name + 'near Jane Lew' + 'the 16th inst.' = 16 June 1855, all matching the file exactly. The 1932 reunion history's version ('bought a paper and sat down under a tree to read and later was found dead') agrees on the tree and the suddenness, softens the rest, and drops the procession. The paper's 'John Barley corn' is an insinuation, NOT adopted as cause of death: no inquest reported; a man of 69 on a June march who sits down and dies overnight fits heat or heart as well.

[Batch 95, 9-9-2026; entered Batch 99] Newspapers.com image 667608105.

[Batch 95; entered Batch 99] Newspapers.com image 667651414.

[Batch 95; entered Batch 99] Newspapers.com image 15827917.

[Batch 95; entered Batch 99]

Complete Stalnaker male line for Patricia: Capt. Samuel Stalnaker (cabin in southern WV 1749, Indian scout, French & Indian War, m. Sarah Williams; the Preston Papers page cites the famous Holston River frontiersman — wife and son Adam killed by Shawnee 18 Jun 1755, Samuel captured and escaped to Williamsburg 1756, corresponded about in Dinwiddie's own letters; Waddell's 'Report of Shawnee Victims' cited) -> Jacob Stalnaker (m. Elizabeth Truby — father Christopher Truby per one page, John Truby per another, flagged; Tygart Valley 1772; d. 1792 Beverly, wife d. 1816) -> Samuel Stalnaker II (1763-1835; m. Susannah Radcliff, whose father William Radcliff claimed land on HACKER'S CREEK 1774; REVOLUTIONARY WAR service at Westfield Fort + Indian spy 1780-82; pension awarded 1833, suspended at death; will in Will Book B p.7 Lewis Co; buried Broad Run Baptist Church Cemetery, Lewis Co) -> Samuel III (1800-1845; m. 1827 Elizabeth McWhorter 1811-1886, dau of Walter Fields McWhorter & Margaret Hurst) -> Samuel Marion (1836-1891; m. 1860 Sarah Ann Davisson, dau of William D. & Eliza Allman Davisson, she 17; cleared land at Beech Lick, Doddridge Co; children Mary, Samuel William, Lloyd, Ida, Ort) -> Samuel William (1867-1939; m. 1896 Emma Gertrude Bolte; children Mittie Rebecca, Grace Lisette, Frederick Marion, Samuel William) -> Frederick Marion ('1900-1949' — VARIANT vs. file's FindAGrave-sourced d. 28 Mar 1950; m. 1926 Thelma Myrl Hitt; Clarksburg 15 years then FREEMANSBURG — the residence mechanism behind Ian's 'moved after age 10' testimony; five children: Frederick Marion [file: Frederick William, both names appear in the book], Patricia Ann, James Marion, ESTHER LOUISE [resolves the 1940 census's 'Estes'], John J.). Also Steinaecker heraldry pages (Vienna 1637 noble-lineage lore, trans. Marion R. Wenger, Goshen College) — recorded as family lore, not adopted as fact. Source: the family tree book at Ian's mother's house, photographed by Ian 14 Aug 2026 (36 pages/photos, Assets/Hall Family/IMG_0001-0008 + IMG_9972-9999). COMPILED BY PATRICIA ANN STALNAKER HALL herself (confirmed by Ian, 8-14-2026) — the calligraphed chart is her own hand, consistent with her Maryland Institute of Fine Arts training. FULL VERBATIM TRANSCRIPTION: Transcriptions/stalnaker-book-stalnaker-chronology.md (Batch 61). Photo captions: Transcriptions/stalnaker-book-photo-captions.md.

Batch 63: filed the accompanying Germany map page (Hanover/Bremen route context for the Bolte immigration) as records/stalnaker-book-bolte-germany-map.jpg.

Four-generation pedigree for both parents of Deborah/James Stephen/Catherine. Confirms the file's Hall side exactly and supplies previously-unknown names on both sides: Louise Cunningham (wife of Justis C. Heck, Hester Heck's mother); and the full Stalnaker-side slate — Frederick W. Bolte & Sophia Rebecca Behrens; Edgar Davisson & Margaret McPherson; William Edgar Hitt & POLLY HALL; James S. Hitt & Elizabeth Davisson. The calligraphy is consistent with Patricia's art training (Maryland Institute of Fine Arts) — attribution unconfirmed. Source: the family tree book at Ian's mother's house, photographed by Ian 14 Aug 2026 (36 pages/photos, Assets/Hall Family/IMG_0001-0008 + IMG_9972-9999). COMPILED BY PATRICIA ANN STALNAKER HALL herself (confirmed by Ian, 8-14-2026) — the calligraphed chart is her own hand, consistent with her Maryland Institute of Fine Arts training. FULL VERBATIM TRANSCRIPTION: Transcriptions/stalnaker-book-ancestor-chart.md (Batch 61). Photo captions: Transcriptions/stalnaker-book-photo-captions.md.

[Batch 96, 9-11-2026] Haus No. 38b, Haueda. Born November 21, 1838 (evening); baptised 2 December 1838. 'ein Sohn Friedrich Wilhelm Bolte'. Father: 'Der Zimmermann Johann Georg Bolte' (carpenter). Mother: 'Anna Margarethe geborene Scherff'. THE CITATION IS THE DURABLE PART: Archion shelf reference printed on the page — this source is independent of Ancestry and survives the cancellation.

[Batch 96, 9-11-2026] Parents restated: 'Johann Georg Bolte, Zimmermann daselbst' and 'Ehefrau Anna Margarethe geb. Scherff'. Born 1838 Novbr 21. Aged 14y 4m 6d. Assessed 'ziemlich gut'. Entry 4 on the same page is a DIFFERENT boy, Johann Georg Bolte b. 14 Dec 1838, son of Martin Bolte & Caroline geb. Gold — a second Bolte household in Haueda; keep them apart.

Primary family source for Harris/Allen/Webb/Greek lines. Nicholas Harveous row contains copied dates (see flags). [Batch 51, 8-2-2026] Ian's mother scanned/uploaded the fuller underlying document set: 4 'FAMILY GROUP RECORD' sheets (fill-in forms, compiler Lee A. Hall, Box 601, Weston WVa, Sept 1978) alongside the ancestor chart already on file. Group No.2 = Gus George Harris & Roberta Allen (their 4 children + spouses/marriage dates). Group No.4 = George Nicholas Harris & Jennie G. Anagnostopoulos (6 children incl. twin infant deaths Aug-Dec 1916). Group No.8 = 'Nicholas Harrouas' & wife 'Nicholetti' -- this is the sheet behind the existing 'copied dates' flag above: its vital dates (b.25 Dec 1885, d.13 May 1937) exactly duplicate George Nicholas Harris's own, so it reads as a compiler mix-up/duplicate rather than a confirmed separate parent generation; NOT promoted to a new ancestor record. Its one clearly-new detail -- an added note that the wife 'came to Weston WVa to see her granddaughter, she died during her visit' -- is preserved here as a family story fragment, unattached to a specific person pending clarification. Group No.10 = Louis Anagnostopoulos & Anna Chiotes (Jennie's parents, already on file) with 3 additional children (Dimitri, Georgia, Vasilica) never before in family-data.json -- see their new person records. All 4 sheets photographed/linked to Assets/Records this batch.

[Batch 72 — PETITION PAGE READ IN FULL] The 1922 petition (following the 11 Oct 1920 declaration, Circuit Court of Lewis Co.) states: 'I am married. My wife's name is Jennie... born at Sparta, Greece... now resides at Weston, W.Va.' with her birth year given as 1896, and 'I have FOUR children': **Leda, Sept. 11, 1915**; **Anna, Apr. 4, 1916**; **Helen, Sept. 17, 1918**; **Gus, Apr. 2, 1921** — all born and residing at Weston, W.Va. Leda had never been entered in this archive; Gus's date exactly matches his VA BIRLS record; Anna's month is April, not January (earlier mis-reading corrected); Jennie's 1896 conflicts with the 1893 on file and is flagged.

VA BIRLS Death File record for Gus Harris, b. 2 Apr 1921, d. 31 Aug 1970 (exact match to Gus George Harris — Ian's grandfather). Documents Coast Guard service (Organization Code CG, Branch Coast Guard), enlisted 28 Apr 1942, released 11 Feb 1946, Conflict Period World War II. [Batch 38] Corrects/refines Ian's recollection of Navy service — record indicates Coast Guard specifically, though family memory conflating the two seafaring services is common. Searched Fold3 for an associated military headstone application; none found under this name.

Two Weston-area newspaper clippings (paper/masthead not captured) preserved in Lee A. Hall's scrapbook, apparently from Oct 1960: (1) a biographical obituary -- 'JENNIE G. HARRIS -- WESTON -- Mrs. Jennie G. Harris and Misses Anna Harris both of [Weston, died] Wednesday evening at 9:15 p.m. in a local hospital following a one year's illness. She was born in Sparta, Greece, Aug. 15, 1893, a daughter of Louis and Anna Chiotes Anagnospopoulos. In 1913 she was married to George N. Harris who preceded her in death on May 13, 1937. She is survived by three daughters, Mrs. Lena Curtis, Montgomery, W.Va., Miss Helen Harris and Miss Anna Harris both of Weston; one son, Gus George Harris of Weston; two brothers, Nicholas and Dimitri Anagnospopoulos both of Sparta, Greece; one sister, Mrs. Louie Foffas of New York City, N.Y.; five grandchildren. Mrs. Harris was a member of the Greek Orthodox Church of Clarksburg.' (2) a 'Funeral Notices' brief -- 'MRS. JENNIE G. HARRIS, age 68, of 27 Kitson St., passed away Thursday at 9:15 p.m. in a Weston hospital following an illness of one year. Friends are being received at the Floyd Funeral Home where funeral services will be held Saturday, October 14, at 1 p.m. with the Reverend Karas officiating. Interment in the Machapelah Cemetery. Floyd Funeral Home, Weston, in charge.' CORROBORATES existing family-data exactly on: birth 15 Aug 1893 Sparta Greece; parents Louis & Anna Chiotes Anagnostopoulos; 1913 marriage to George N. Harris; his death 13 May 1937; her own death ~Oct 1960 (Wed. before a Sat. Oct 14 funeral lines up with the existing 12 Oct 1960 death date to the day). Minor internal inconsistency: 'age 68' at an Oct 1960 death implies a birth year of ~1892, one year off from the same clipping set's own 'Aug. 15, 1893' -- a routine obituary-arithmetic slip, not treated as displacing the better-attested 1893 date. NEW: gives her street address (27 Kitson St., Weston), funeral home (Floyd Funeral Home), officiant (Rev. Karas), and — most valuably — full sibling info for Jennie never before in family-data.json: two brothers, Nicholas and Dimitri Anagnostopoulos, BOTH STILL OF SPARTA, GREECE (i.e., non-emigrating, explaining their absence from US records); one sister, Mrs. Louie Foffas, of New York City. See new person records dimitri-anagnostopoulos-1897, nicholas-anagnostopoulos-sparta, vasilica-anagnostopoulos-foffas-1900, louie-foffas, and georgia-anagnostopoulos-1899 (the last per the 1978 Family Group No.10 sheet only -- she is NOT mentioned among the living survivors in this 1960 obituary, so may have predeceased 1960 or the obituary is simply incomplete; flagged needs-clarification).

RE-READ FROM THE IMAGE, Batch 76, and it corrected the archive. This is the clipping pair the file has called 'the 1960 obituary' since Batch 51. It is from OCTOBER 1961. Two independent internal checks: (1) the funeral notice sets services for 'Saturday, October 14' — 14 October fell on a FRIDAY in 1960 and on a SATURDAY in 1961; (2) she is given as AGE 68 — born 15 August 1893 she was 67 in October 1960 and 68 in October 1961. Both agree with a date already sitting in this file's own Batch 27 notes ('d. 11 Oct 1961 Weston') that had never been reconciled with the death field. FULL CONTENT: age 68, of 27 Kitson St.; died at 9:15 p.m. in a Weston hospital after a year's illness; Floyd Funeral Home; services Saturday 14 October at 1 p.m., REVEREND KARAS officiating; interment MACHPELAH CEMETERY. Born Sparta, Greece, 15 August 1893, daughter of LOUIS and ANNA CHIOTES ANAGNOSTOPOULOS; married George N. Harris in 1913; he died 13 May 1937. Survived by daughters Mrs. Lena Curtis of Montgomery W.Va., Miss Helen Harris and Miss Anna Harris of Weston; son Gus George Harris of Weston; brothers Nicholas and Dimitri, both of Sparta; sister Mrs. Louie Foffas of New York City; FIVE GRANDCHILDREN. Member of the GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH AT CLARKSBURG. CONFLICT WITHIN THE PAIR: the funeral notice says she died Thursday, the news obituary says Wednesday evening — Thursday the 12th is what a Saturday-the-14th funeral implies and is what the file now carries; the Wednesday reading is preserved.

Read line by line from the image Batch 76 (the archive had used this manifest for two years from an index summary). THREE CONSECUTIVE HARVOUTOS ROWS, all from MAGOULA, all bound for WESTON, W.VA.: row 19 HARVOUTOS, GEORGE, married, CONFECTIONER, nearest relative in Greece his brother NICK HARVOUTOS of Magoula; row 20 HARVOUROUS, JANNULA, married, HOUSEWIFE, Magoula, same destination — Jannula is the Greek diminutive of Ioanna, i.e. Jennie, and the row's own details (same village, recorded as married, consecutive with George, same destination town) make the identification with Jennie Anagnostopoulos Harris as strong as a manifest can make it; row 21 HARVOUROS, CONST. — CONSTANTINE — about 18, SINGLE, occupation WAITER, Magoula, nearest relative 'as above', DESTINATION WESTON, W.VA. THIS THIRD PASSENGER IS NEW TO THE ARCHIVE: George did not arrive with only his wife. All three carry the ADMITTED stamp. Note also row 22, immediately after: ANAGNOSTOPULO, CONSTANTINOS, 26, single, FLORIST, nearest relative his brother Nick Anagnostopoulos, but from a different village and bound for NEW YORK, not Weston — flagged as a possible relative of Jennie's, not asserted.

Read in full from the image Batch 76; the archive had cited this file since Batch 22 without transcribing it. GIVES THE ONLY WRITTEN DESCRIPTION OF GEORGE: aged 35, occupation MERCHANT, colour White, complexion LIGHT, height FIVE FEET SIX INCHES, weight 167 POUNDS, hair BROWN, eyes BROWN, no visible distinctive marks. Emigrated from PATRAS on the vessel LACONIA; last foreign residence Sparti; now resident at Weston. SIGNED IN HIS OWN HAND, 'George N. Harris'. Sworn 11 October 1920 before the Clerk of the Circuit Court; the petition below it sworn December 1922, deputy clerk L. R. Harrison Jr. HISTORICAL DETAIL: the sovereign he renounces by name is ALEXANDER — King Alexander of Greece, who reigned only March 1917 to October 1920 and died two weeks after this declaration was sworn. TWO CONFLICTS FLAGGED: (1) it gives his birth as 24 DECEMBER 1885, not the 25th that the 1978 family chart, this archive and the family's telling all carry — a declarant swearing his own birth date is a strong witness, and both readings are preserved; (2) it gives his arrival at New York as 'on or about the 18th day of April 1914' against the Laconia manifest's 2 April 1914 — the manifest, made on the day, is the better witness and stands.

His own sworn account: b. 14 May 1760; ~8 months militia service — 1777 Culpeper muster, Jul-Nov 1777 march to Pennsylvania under Col. James Barbour JOINING WASHINGTON'S ARMY (Philadelphia campaign), 1781 rifleman tour under Gen. Campbell from Rockingham Co. Signature on page 2. SUPERSEDES the Find a Grave bio's 12th VA Regt 3-year service (likely a different William Sims). Transcription: transcriptions/william-sims-1832-pension-declaration.md

GRANTED militia pension of the INDIANA William Sims (b.1760 Culpeper VA). Brief + both 1833 declaration pages harvested (images in Assets/Records). Inscribed on the Indiana roll at $28.33/yr from 4 Mar 1831; certificate 16 Aug 1833 to agent George Holland, Brookville IN; Book E v7 p129; heir Thos Sims. Declaration gives his VA->Rockingham->Cocke Co TN (1785)->Franklin Co IN (1811) migration and sworn b. 14 May 1760. [Batch 53, 8-9-2026] Pulled a 5th page (pension certificate/rate summary card): reveals the ORIGINAL claim was filed 7 June 1832 (not just the 1833 declaration date previously on file); confirms Inscribed at $28.33/yr from 4 Mar 1831, semi-annual allowance $14.16, arrears to 4 Mar 1833 of $56.66, cert. issued 16 Aug 1833, agent George Holland of Brookville IN, Book E Vol 7 Page 129.

A previously-unexamined Fold3 Revolutionary War pension file for a 'John Sims,' filed 27 Sep 1833 before magistrate William Peterson, J.P., in and for Lewis County, Virginia; court certification signed by I. Talbott, Clerk, at Weston, 30 Sep 1833. Declarant aged 78 in 1833 (so b. abt 1755), a resident of Lewis County VA at time of filing. Sworn service history, four tours: (1) volunteered mid-June 1777 in Augusta County VA, private under Capt. John Hopkins, militia under Col. Dickinson, marched via Warm Springs (now Bath Co) to the Greenbrier River, joined further VA militia under Col. Skillern (Botetourt/Rockbridge counties), crossed Sewell Mountain to the Great Kanawha River, descended to Point Pleasant, joined the fort commanded by Capt. Arbuckle (Fort Randolph), remained through the fall, and explicitly recounts witnessing the killing of Shawnee Chief Cornstalk and other Indian chiefs there in Nov 1777 (a well-documented historical event) before General Edward Hand arrived from Fort Pitt; discharged Jan 1778 after 7 months. (2) Drafted July 1778, Augusta militia under Capt. Joseph Bell, marched to Williamsburg VA, ~3 months. (3) Drafted summer 1779, Augusta militia under Capt. Thomas Rankin, marched via Charlottesville to Richmond, guarded stores/provisions, skirmished against Tories, ~2 months. (4) Drafted Sept 1780, Augusta militia under Capt. Patrick Buchannon, marched via Rockfish Gap and Lynch's Ferry to Hillsborough NC, joined Gen. Gates's army under Col. Howard, a battle fought on the Catawba River, returned to Charlotte as Gen. Nathanael Greene took command (~Dec 1780). PENSION NOT YET CONFIRMED TO BE THE SAME FAMILY as our documented william-sims-sr-1763 (b. abt 1763 Hampshire Co, d. 1842 Hackers Creek, Lewis Co) -- flagged needs-clarification: this John Sims (b. abt 1755) is roughly 8 years older, of the right surname, and resident in the EXACT same county (Lewis Co VA/WV) -- a strong candidate for an older brother, cousin, or other relative, but no direct documentary link between the two men was found in this file. Ruled OUT as a match: a nearby 'Micajah Sims' pension file in the same collection (checked as a same-surname adjacency check) is a Tennessee-roll pensioner with no Lewis County connection. [Batch 50, 7-31-2026] Pulled and read the FULL 16-page pension jacket (previously only 2 pages had been examined/saved). New personal-history details found on Page 8 (his sworn answers to the seven standard War Department interrogatories), not previously captured: he was born 12 Feb 1755 in Culpeper County, Virginia (matches the birth COUNTY, though not the exact birth year, of the already-ruled-out Indiana patriot William Sims [b. 14 May 1760, also Culpeper Co] -- worth noting as a regional coincidence, not a proven tie); he was living in Augusta County, Virginia when called into militia service (consistent with his four tours' muster points); and critically, he states he 'moved from there to Lewis County Va in 1819 where I am now living.' This 1819 arrival date is a NEGATIVE finding against the needs-clarification hypothesis that he might be a close relative (father/uncle) of William Sims Sr already established in Lewis County: William Sims Sr's own son, John Wesley Sims, was already born IN Lewis County in 1787 -- 32 years before this John Sims arrived. So whatever this John Sims's relationship to our Sims line turns out to be, he did not arrive as part of an already-settled family group; if related at all, he came later, possibly to join family already there. Pages 1-3 and 9-10 are administrative cover sheets, oath certifications, and character-witness statements (Wm Bennett and Job Houghton, both described only as neighbors -- not named as relatives); pages 11-16 are 1934 NARA correspondence with an unrelated researcher (Mrs. Frank T. McFarland, tracing a different family, 'Hosea Daughters') that happens to be bundled into the same digitized file and is NOT about John Sims. No wife or children are named anywhere in this file -- it is a service-only declaration, not a widow's or heir's claim, so it cannot directly prove or disprove kinship to William Sims Sr. STILL flagged needs-clarification, not resolved. Two new page-8 crop images saved.

Newton Gilbert Sims's ORIGINAL Union enlistment record (before he re-enlisted/"veteranized" into Co. I, 1st WV Veteran Infantry — see src-newton-sims-union-cmsr). Filed under the alternate spelling "Simms"; located via a "reference envelope" cross-reference card in the "Sims" file pointing to cards filed under "Simms, Newton G." Muster-out roll card: Private, Co. B, 9th Reg't WV Infantry, age 20, appears on Co. Muster-out Roll dated Harpers Ferry VA, 5 Oct 1864; last paid to 30 Apr 1864; clothing account settled 30 Jun 1863, $41.57 drawn since; due US for arms/equipage $4.50; remarks note "Veteran" (i.e., re-enlisted as a veteran volunteer, consistent with the later 1st WV Vet Inf service). Age 20 in Oct 1864 implies b. ~1843-1844, close to but not identical to the family's working 1845 birth year (minor variance, not yet reconciled). [Batch 53, 8-9-2026]

Index card stamped "DEAD." Late rank, Co. B, 9th Reg't WV Infantry; Additional Services: Co. I, 1st WV Veteran Infantry. Two claims listed: CLASS "Invalid," Application No. 708366, Law "age" (i.e. the Act of 6 Feb 1907 old-age pension law), Certificate No. 674444 — GRANTED; CLASS "Minor," Application No. 683325, law-column checkmark (approved). Two DATE OF FILING entries given, "1907 Mar 22" and "1889 June 5" — the card does not make the row-to-date correspondence fully unambiguous; most likely reading is an original 1889 Invalid application later refiled/supplemented under the 1907 Act (App. 708366 issued Cert. 674444), with the "Minor" application a separate, not-yet-understood claim; flagged, not fully resolved. REMARKS: "Died Nov 30, 1919, at Orma, W. Va." — this is the first primary-record confirmation of Newton Gilbert Sims's exact death date and place (previously only the year 1919 was on file, from the 1978 family chart/FindAGrave-style secondary notes). Orma is a small community in Calhoun/Gilmer County, WV. [Batch 53, 8-9-2026]

The Plain Speaker (Hazleton, PA), Tue 29 Apr 1941, p.20. Newspapers.com image 502709744. Contemporary news account of Michael Yura Sr.'s death: electrocuted at the Humboldt colliery of the Lattimer Coal Company about 8:45pm the previous evening (28 Apr 1941), killed instantly on contact with wires while at work; of 233 West Muir Avenue, Hazleton Heights. Born in Austria (i.e. Austria-Hungary, consistent with the Bardejov-region Slovak origin established via other sources), came to the U.S. about 40 years earlier (c.1901, matching the family's known immigration date), settled at Humboldt for 38 years, moved to Hazleton itself about two years before his death (c.1939). Member of St. Mary's Greek Catholic Church, Hazleton. Survived by widow Mary and children: Michael Jr. (of Hazleton), Mrs. George Volansky, Mary and Andrew Yura (of Jersey City NJ), John, Catherine, and George Yura (of Hazleton), and Joseph, described as "a pitcher with the London baseball club of Maryland." (Article as printed does not separately name Helen, Margaret, Stephen, or Theresa among survivors — possibly omitted for space or still minors at home.)

[Batch 72 — PETITION READ IN FULL] US Dept of Labor Petition for Naturalization no. 6376, District Court, Middle District of Pennsylvania. Michael Yura, of Humboldt (Hazleton R.D.), laborer; born 20 July 1885 at Ortutava, Austria; emigrated from Bremen ~5 Dec 1901, arrived New York 14 Dec 1901 aboard the KAISER WILHELM DER GROSSE; declared intention 1 Dec 1913 at Wilkes Barre, Court of Common Pleas, Luzerne County. Wife Mary, born Tapoly, Austria, residing Humboldt. FIVE children listed with exact dates: Michael 24 Jul 1906; Anna 17 Nov 1907; Mary 17 Feb 1910; Andrew 14 Dec 1911; Katie 11 Oct 1913 — all born at and residing Humboldt, Pa. Witnesses: George M. Oakes (foreman) and Andrew Harris Jr. (miner), both of Humboldt.

[Batch 54, 8-9-2026] Full obituary text: 'Anna Yura, 89, of Allentown, died Wednesday, Nov. 7, in Lehigh Valley Hospital, Allentown. She was the wife of Michael Yura, who died in 1994. Born in Hazleton, she was a daughter of the late Michael and Anna (Felegy) Sokol. She was a member of St. Michael's Byzantine Rite Catholic Church, Allentown. Survivors: Sons, Eugene of Allentown, Dr. Joseph of Austin, Texas, Dr. Michael T. of Morgantown, W.Va.; daughters, Dr. Helen Petro of Norfolk, Va, Dr. Anne Hoover of Wilkes-Barre, Margaret Gilliland of Fairfax, Va; 12 grandchildren, four great-grandchildren. Services: 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Robut Funeral Home... Divine Liturgy... Graveside service... parish cemetery, Whitehall Township.' Confirms all 5 children already on file and their spread; independently confirms parents Michael & Anna (Felegy) Sokol. Two discrepancies vs. the file (both sourced from Eugene's later 2007 obituary): daughter 'Dr. Anne Hoover' here vs. 'Dr. Anne Yura Hester' in 2007 — same city (Wilkes-Barre) both times, so likely a married-name change (remarriage) between 2001 and 2007, not an error; and 'Margaret Gilliland of Fairfax, Va' here vs. 'Margaret Yura Gililland... Sarasota FL' in 2007 — likely simply moved. Both flagged, not merged/corrected.

[Batch 55, 8-9-2026] Full obituary found and transcribed (previously undocumented professional biography). Died 12 Oct 2015 after an 8-year battle with breast cancer; survived by husband Joseph Petro and siblings 'Dr. Eugene (Joan) Yura' and 'Margaret (Yura) Gilliland' (a shorter sibling list than the 2001/2007 obituaries — possibly abbreviated, not necessarily indicating the other siblings predeceased her). NEW: gives Eugene M. Yura's wife's first name as JOAN (not previously on file). Career: nursing school at Sacred Heart Hospital, Allentown PA; BS Nursing, University of Dayton; MS Nursing + PhD in Higher Education, Catholic University of America; joined CUA faculty 1964 teaching psychiatric/mental health nursing; co-authored 'The Nursing Process' with Mary B. Walsh (named 1975 Book of the Year by the American Journal of Nursing) and 'Nursing Leadership and Human Needs and the Nursing Process'; later held a position at the National League for Nursing, accrediting nursing colleges/universities nationally; career brought her to Norfolk VA, where she met husband Joseph Petro and became Graduate Program Director at Old Dominion University, retiring with the title Eminent Professor Emeritus. Personal: grew orchids, enjoyed home baking, 'sharing her Slovak heritage'; member of Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church and the nursing honor society Sigma Theta Tau. Funeral Mass 14 Oct 2015, Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, Norfolk (Rev. W. Daniel Beeman); interment Williamsburg Memorial Park, 130 King William Drive, Williamsburg VA (confirms/clarifies the burial place already on file).

Sheet showing Samuel Leveton (48, head), Sadie [=Sarah] Leveton (48, wife), Irving Leveton (22, son), Eleanor Leveton (18, daughter), Herman Israel (79, FATHER-IN-LAW). Verifies Sarah I = daughter of Herman Israel, and Eleanor as Samuel & Sarah's daughter. Family anchored in New Haven, CT. Image in Assets/Records.

Family-built tree with attached records (ship manifests, 1920–1950 censuses, SSDI, CT vitals). Use as a family source; verify vitals against the cited records. Established the Italian origin towns (Batch 19).

Age 26, Italian, dep. Naples, arr. NY 19 Nov 1902 on SS Aller; residence place Cusano Mutri. Also a 5 May 1900 crossing. Image in Assets/Records (Batch 18).

Herman Israel (45, b. Russia ~1865, alien, m. ~1890) with wife Fanny (46) and children Sara (19), Arthur (16), Isaac (14), Helen (9), Willie (6). Sarah listed as daughter — corroborates the Israel parentage. Image in Assets/Records (Batch 18/19).

Rich media trove built by Kellyn's mother: ancestor PORTRAITS (Marianna DeBiase DeNigris, Irving N Leveton, + collateral: Michael & Elizabeth Melillo, Harry Israel, Jacob Botwick, Arthur Israel, Domenic Cusano, Eleanor Markman), DeBaise gravestones (Luca & Cristina), group family photos (Vero Beach), newspaper clippings (Russo-DiNigris wedding), and obituaries (Philip John Leveton). Also confirmed: the printed tree in Assets/Russy:Leveton Families (IMG_4012/4013) is a printout of THIS tree. Harvest portraits for the website.

Index to Naturalization Petitions, Connecticut, 1791-1906, card D526: "Denegris, Antonio. Born: Oct. 16, 1871. Country: Italy. New Haven, Conn. County: N.H. Com. Pleas Court, New Haven. Vol. 6, Page 332. Nat: Oct. 21, 1904." Likely = our Antonio DeNigris (settled Wallingford, New Haven Co CT) given the exact New Haven County match and surname variant spelling (Denegris/DeNigris are commonly conflated in period records), but the birth date (16 Oct 1871) is 5 years earlier than our record's 21 Feb 1876 — flagged as a discrepancy, not merged/corrected. If this is our man, it places him in the US and settled in New Haven Co. by 1904, only ~2 years after his confirmed 19 Nov 1902 arrival (src-denigris-1902-manifest) — plausible but fast for a full naturalization (5-year residency requirement), so this may actually be a Declaration of Intention rather than final papers; the underlying Common Pleas Court petition (Vol 6 p332) was not itself viewed, only the index card.

Circuit Court of the United States, Southern District of New York, Declaration of Intention, sworn 11 Aug 1906: "Herman Israel of 159 Ridge St, City of New York, being duly sworn, deposes and says that he was born in Russia in the year 1866 and emigrated to the United States, landing at the port of New York in the State of New York on or about the 1st day of July A.D. 1889." Strong match to our Herman Israel (b. 1859 per family tree, immigrated from Russia ~1889-90 per prior research) on arrival date (1 Jul 1889, matching "~1889-90") and origin (Russia); birth year is 7 years off (1866 vs. our 1859), flagged as a discrepancy, not merged/corrected. Residence at filing: 159 Ridge Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan — a classic Jewish immigrant enclave, consistent with his likely original given name "Hyman" and pre-Meriden/New Haven CT settlement pattern. Does NOT give his shtetl/hometown in Russia — that remains unfound. Southern District of NY, Circuit Court, Vol 028-029 (27 June-17 Sept 1906), image 594 of 991.

Both read from the images Batch 76; the declaration had been logged as a candidate record in Batch 54 and never transcribed. DECLARATION: Herman Israel of 159 RIDGE STREET, NEW YORK CITY — the Lower East Side, and the only American street address this archive has for the family's first years; born in RUSSIA in the year 'one thousand eight hundred and sixty-six' (the last word is the least certain reading on a narrow crop); landed at the port of NEW YORK on or about July 188[6]; renouncing THE EMPEROR OF RUSSIA; sworn 1906. 1910 CENSUS, MERIDEN CT: Herman 45 (head), Fanny 46 (wife), Sara 19, Arthur 16, Isaac 14, Helen 9, Willie 6. Sara is the direct line — Sarah 'Sadie' Israel Leveton. TWO CONSEQUENCES: (1) Herman's birth year — the declaration says 1866 and the census implies 1865, against this file's tree-sourced 1859; two records within a year of each other outweigh one tree entry, and 1859 is now flagged as the weaker reading rather than overwritten. (2) The census's 'Isaac', 14, sits exactly where the tree puts 'Edward', b. 1896 — a Hebrew given name and an English one for the same boy is the ordinary explanation, flagged not merged.

Read from the image and transcribed in full Batch 77. Gives the two family street addresses this archive had never had: the bride's parents 'Mr. and Mrs. Anthony DiNigris of 431 NORTH COLONY STREET' (i.e. Antonio DeNigris of Cusano Mutri, anglicised), and the groom's parents 'Mr. and Mrs. Vincent Russo of 371 VIEW STREET, NEW HAVEN' (Vincenzo Russo of Alvignano). Ceremony at NINE O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING at HOLY TRINITY CHURCH; nuptial mass celebrated by REV. JOSEPH F. JOYCE, D.D., pastor. Attendants MISS MARGARET TAMASSIA and JOHN INZERO, both of HAMDEN. The couple travelled to WASHINGTON, D.C. and returned to live in New Haven.

MANIFEST, CONFIRMED: Italian, age 26, birth abt 1876, departure port NAPLES, ARRIVAL 19 NOVEMBER 1902 at New York, residence CUSANO MUTRI, ship SS ALLER. Age 26 in November 1902 is an exact fit for a birth of 21 February 1876, and the residence is his own village — his arrival is now a dated fact. NATURALIZATION CARD, RULED OUT: the card carried since Batch 54 as a candidate reads 'Denegris, Antonio; Born Oct. 16, 1871; Italy; New Haven, Conn.; Com. Pleas Court, New Haven; Vol. 6, Page 332; Nat. Oct. 21, 1904'. It belongs to a DIFFERENT MAN, for two independent reasons: (1) the birth date is five years off ours; (2) naturalisation on 21 October 1904 is impossible for a man who landed on 19 November 1902, since US naturalisation then required FIVE YEARS' continuous residence. Recorded as a documented negative. The only scenario that would rescue it is an earlier first arrival with 1902 as a return voyage — but the manifest gives his residence as Cusano Mutri, i.e. he was coming from home. LEAD THAT SURVIVES: the New Haven Court of Common Pleas naturalisation series, Volume 6 page 332, is a cheap, precise citation for a courthouse request, and the same court's index is where our Antonio's own papers would be if he filed any.

[Batch 72 — READ AND RULED OUT] Card reads: soldier 'Hall, James'; widow 'Hall, Nancy C.'; service 9th W.Va. Vet. Inf.; Invalid claim filed 18 Aug 1873 (app. 185820, cert. 127016); Widow claim filed 29 Jul 1925 (app. 1235539, cert. 963802), W.Va. **NOT James Monroe Hall of Freemans Creek** — the invalid claim postdates his Feb 1873 death by six months (invalid pensions are filed by the living soldier), and his wife Nancy Burnside died 1863 so cannot claim as widow in 1925. A same-name veteran. Documented negative — do not re-chase.

Private → 3rd Corporal, age 20 in 1865. Son of John Wesley Sims; paired with Alfred D. Sims's Confederate service — the Sims family had soldiers on both sides.

National Archives (Ancestry.com, 1950 U.S. Federal Census). Household at 16 Center St, Weston: Gus G Harris (Head, White Male, 29, b. ~1921 WV, married, occupation bartender/waiter at a candy store); Roberta (Wife, White Female, 23, b. ~1927 WV, keeping house); George G (Son, White Male, age 2, b. ~1948 WV); Roger A (Son, White Male, age 7/12 [7 months], b. ~1949 WV — index mis-transcribed this as age '74'/b.1876, a clear OCR error on the household index, not reflected in the original handwritten schedule). This is an exact match on Gus & Roberta's names, ages, and birth years to the family's existing sourced records (Gus b. 2 Apr 1921, Roberta b. 5 Mar 1927), confirming George G Harris as their son. Minor flag: census age 2 (as of the April 1950 enumeration) implies a birth window somewhat before Ian's supplied Sept 12 birthday would allow if the birth year is precisely 1948 — a common +/-1 year wobble in 1950 census ages, not treated as contradicting Ian's information. Also newly documents Gus Harris's occupation as bartender/waiter at a candy store — plausibly his father George Nicholas Harris's own confectionery business.

apps.landmarkgeospatial.com/lewisgis, accessed 2026-07-29, in response to Ian's question about adjoining Hall-family land. Immediately NORTH of the Hall Trust's 194.5-ac tract: two parcels (6D-1, 1.25 ac; 6D-2, 74.75 ac), both owned by Rittenhouse Robert L & Lindsey R — not a Hall-family holding. WEST: 5D-63 (8 ac, Spinks Donald R & Pamela J) and 6C-6 (65.55 ac, Equitable Gas — a mineral/utility holding, not a residential owner). SOUTH: parcel 6D-10 (Horse Run Rd, 252.44 ac, 'Fee Surf & Coal') is a genuine adjoining HALL-family property — its tax map card shows a chain of ownership entirely within a Hall family distinct from Ian's own line: Doyle A. Hall (acquired 1-14-1954, Deed Book 229 p.539) -> Robert D. Hall of Waynesburg, PA (acquired 7-1984, Deed Book WB p.238) -> a 9/2003 transfer to Sara G. Kersen(?) and J. Suzanne Miller(?) (names hard to read), Deed Book 583 p.439 -> Sue Ellen Hall (acquired 4-15-2004, Deed Book WB-34 p.597); a second card notes a Transfer-on-Death designation (Deed Book 879 p.632) naming George Forrest, Donna Ellen Hall, Rebecca Tap[?]Yeary, and Robin Drane as beneficiaries; the legal description itself reads '1/2 of 252.67 [ac]... Life Estate in house - Lena H. Hall,' meaning this 252-acre tract is itself HALF of a still-larger original tract that was split at some earlier point — a concrete instance of the kind of subdivision Ian recalls from family memory, though NOT yet tied by name to a specific Revolutionary-War-era grant or to a documented 'split into fourths.' None of Doyle A. Hall, Robert D. Hall, Lena H. Hall, Sue Ellen Hall, Donna Ellen Hall, or the TOD beneficiaries have yet been connected to Ian's own direct Hall line by any document — flagged as a real, promising, but UNCONFIRMED lead, not asserted as kin. Handwriting on the tax cards was hard to read in places (indicated with [?]).

Album pages photographed by Ian at his mother's house, Aug 2026 (Assets/Hall Family/IMG_9972-9997, IMG_0005). Every typed caption transcribed verbatim in Transcriptions/stalnaker-book-photo-captions.md. NEEDS-IDENTIFICATION: two poses of the same four young men (c. 1910s collars/suits; one print autographed across the light-suited seated man; source frames IMG_9972/IMG_0005 standing pose, IMG_9983 seated pose) carry NO caption in the book. They were loose/uncaptioned. Ian to check the backs of the loose prints for attribution and ask family. NOT to be attached to any person until identified. Also filed here: the Steinaecker heraldry pages and Stalnaker coat-of-arms plate (motto 'Frisch gewagt ist halb gewonnen' — Boldly ventured is half won; Vienna 1637 lore, trans. Marion R. Wenger) — recorded as family lore per the captions transcription, not adopted as documented fact.